The Scottish Government funded program Working Together For Change hosted by In Control Scotland does exactly what it says on the tin, it bring people together who have the same drive and determination to work together to change our society and services offered as well as how these are implemented for disabled people and their families across Scotland.
As most of you know I have been working with In Control Scotland for approximately 3 years. I was a graduate of their 2017/18 Partners and Policymaking course which is another Scottish Government funded program that they run for parents of disabled children up to the age of 18 and self-advocates. Since graduating from this program in May 2018 In Control Scotland haven’t been able to get rid of me 😊.
Joking aside I have since undertaking different roles within In Control Scotland and I am now an associate as well as one of their board members. Prior to January 2020 I was asked by the then Director of In Control Scotland if I would consider undertaking a co-facilitator role as part of the new Working Together For Change program that they would be running. This program was to be delivered over a 6month period with an overnight stay at the Golden Jubilee hotel in Clydebank. I was nervous about being in front of a room and actually being responsible for co-facilitating this program. Even though I have a lot of experience being at the front of a room delivering Y.O.U’s training programs, this somehow felt different. I think a large part of it was because I was thinking about facilitators who delivered the Partners and Policymaking course. They facilitate a program with such confidence and ease, and I didn’t feel I was at that point yet.
Despite this, I embraced the new role and myself and a fellow graduate of Partners and Policymaking began to co-facilitate this program with the then Director of In Control Scotland. We were just finding our feet within this role when Covid hit and as a result the delivery of this course had to be paused. We did try to hold some sessions online, but these became more of a catch-up or check-in rather than delivering the content of the course. Zoom and Microsoft Teams wasn’t as much part of our lives as it is in the year 2021.
Fast forward 18 months and “ are we zooming today?” is actually a sentence that people won’t think twice about responding to with the response such as “of course, see you at 2pm” At the end of the summer this year I was approached again by In Control Scotland who now have a new Director to ask if I would undertake the co-facilitator role again. Of course I welcomed this opportunity and advised I would be more than happy to do so as Covid had meant that I wasn’t able to complete the co-facilitation experience last year. For me as a co-facilitator, the experience this year has been quite different from last year because not only am I part of the core facilitating team for The Working Together For Change program but I am also part of every planning session prior to delivery.
The Working Together for change planning team decided that as Covid-19 restrictions allow, we would approach this year’s program differently and adopt a blended approach to participants learning. This means that we delivered the first 2 sessions including an overnight stay in the apex hotel in Dundee with future sessions online over a 6 month period. If restrictions allow, we will meet again in person towards the end of the program.
The Working Together For Change program is unique because it brings together not only parent’s of disabled children over the age of 18 years old and self-advocates with a disability but also professional people across various sectors who work with disabled people and their families as part of their job. During the first few days it became apparent quickly that there were significant gaps in Scotland’s hospitality industry and how accessible services are for disabled people, not only was I not able to stay in the same hotel with everyone else where I was working but there wasn’t easy access to a shower chair to allow me to have a shower which had been previously promised. I couldn’t stay in the same hotel as everyone else because they didn’t have a bed that would allow me access with using my stand-aid therefore, I stayed in the travel lodge around the corner with my support worker. Although this wasn’t much of an issue and we managed, it would have been a lot easier if everything could have been done under the one roof as I had to transport the stand-aid I require for personal care purposes between the hotels. I also wasn’t able to hire a stand-aid which meant with the support of In Control Scotland I had to make arrangements to transport my stand-aid from my home to the hotel and back again. Again, this was resolved but it shouldn’t need to be resolved as I should just be able to plan for a trip and arrange to have the things in place that I need to make this happen without too many complications. I also was able to access a shower chair as the hotel that didn’t have an accessible bed had a shower chair that they could loan the hotel that did have an accessible bed, (complicated I know!) it sounds a bit ridiculous when I read it back now or say it out loud but that’s the reality of the situation so although In Control Scotland’s Working Together For Change program isn’t focussing on these areas, it does highlight another area where we need to work together to evoke change for disabled people.
The majority of the rest of the two days went relatively smoothly albeit it was certainly a busy couple of days. However, it was worth it to help the participants bond and start to get to know each other before we move sessions online. For me as a co-facilitator it was really strange to be back in front of a room again and be part of a team but also felt good to be part of bringing people together with a similar common goal after such a long time of us being isolated from each other due to Covid. I could see connections forming in the room that participants weren’t even aware of. It was a lot of information to be absorbed over those first 2 sessions but there was also a couple of more fun elements involved, I led a loom band task which encouraged people to make a loom band and then join them together to emphasise how we can all work together to evoke change as well as how making connections can help us make some big changes ( there was also a drink at he bar.. let’s not forget)
Delivering this course might be different to how we delivered previous programs and we are doing it in what is now the “new normal” it is definitely still fear of the unknown but I am excited to see what the Working Together For Change course brings and how I can assist this years participants to get the knowledge and confidence to be part of changing the narrative for disabled people now and in the future.
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